The collection documents a significant portion of his activities as Domestic Council associate director working on energy, environmental and transportation matters; his work on selected political activities in 1976, especially the preparation of the 1976 Republican Party platform; and his work as executive director of the Intelligence Coordinating Group. A separate collection of Raoul-Duval personal papers relating to many of the same topics is also available in the Library.

QUANTITY
21.3 linear feet (ca. 42,600 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession number 77-107)

ACCESS
Open, with the exception of the unprocessed intelligence series. Some items are temporarily restricted under terms of the donor's deed of gift, a copy of which is available on request, or under National Archives and Records Administration general restrictions (36 CFR 1256).

COPYRIGHT
President Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain.

Prepared by Paul Conway, January 1982; Revised July 1984
Revised by William H. McNitt, January 1996
[s:\bin\findaid\raoul-duval, michael - files.doc]

The Michael Raoul-Duval files document a significant portion of his activities as Domestic Council associate director, Executive Director of the Intelligence Coordinating Group, and advisor to the President for the 1976 presidential election campaign. Additional materials on these topics are also available in a separate collection of personal papers that Raoul-Duval donated to the Library.

Raoul-Duval's White House Responsibilities
Raoul-Duval worked on the Nixon Domestic Council and continued in that role after the change of administrations. He handled energy, environment, and transportation issues. Although working under Domestic Council Executive Directors Kenneth Cole and James Cannon, Raoul-Duval had frequent access to President Ford. He often sat in on meetings between the president and members of Congress, cabinet officers, or representatives of business, industry, and labor. Two assistants, Glenn Schleede and Norman Ross, handled much of the day-to-day work, especially in the areas of energy and the environment.

In early 1975, the Senate and House set up special committees to investigate alleged intelligence community abuses of authority. Later that year, President Ford established an Intelligence Coordinating Group (ICG) and appointed White House Counsellor John Marsh as Chairman with Raoul-Duval as Executive Director. The ICG staff, working under Raoul-Duval's direction, included Mason Cargill, Timothy Hardy, Wes Clark, and Ray Waldmann. The ICG prepared a set of recommendations on intelligence community reform and eventually drafted an Executive Order implementing President Ford's decisions.

As the ICG completed its work in 1976, Raoul-Duval began working closely with Richard Cheney, David Gergen and other senior advisers concerned about Ronald Reagan's successes in the primaries. In May, Raoul-Duval campaigned for President Ford in the California primary. Cheney soon urged Raoul-Duval and others to draft a "Rose Garden" strategy for the fall election campaign. In July, Raoul-Duval revised and expanded this strategy memo into an overall strategy plan for the fall campaign. President Ford and his campaign team approved this plan in a series of late August meetings in Vail, Colorado. During the weeks leading up to the Republican Convention, Raoul-Duval also represented the president in negotiations with Reagan's staff over the Republican Party platform.

A key part of the campaign strategy plan was a series of debates with Democratic Party candidate Jimmy Carter. Raoul-Duval coordinated President Ford's preparations for the three debates, helped negotiate with Carter's staff and the League of Women Voters on debate sites and logistics, pulled together numerous suggestions and issues papers, and oversaw technical preparations.

In October 1976, Raoul-Duval drafted plans to smooth Ford's transition to a second term. Following Jimmy Carter's November victory, he served under John Marsh as a liaison to Carter's transition team. He also handled the administration's review of the Peterson Commission's report, which recommended substantial pay increases for federal executives.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Files
Raoul-Duval's Domestic Council files reflect his involvement with energy policy coordination and legislation, his knowledge of selected transportation issues, and his past experiences with community development matters and budget review. When he left the Domestic Council, Raoul-Duval's files on ongoing energy and especially transportation issues were dispersed to his successors. What remains essentially are files on issues and policies both handled and completed during his tenure on the Domestic Council staff. The files only sparsely document the follow-up coordination or end results of the responsibilities delegated to Schleede or Ross. In addition, he did not retain significant amounts of correspondence, apparently referring much incoming mail to agencies for response. The files, however, do show that Raoul-Duval did continue to monitor major energy legislation even after leaving the Domestic Council staff.

The collection contains both an alphabetical subject file on intelligence matters and a chronologically arranged series maintained by Raoul-Duval's assistants Wes Clark and Ray Waldmann. These materials mainly document the work of the Intelligence Coordinating Group in handling liaison with the congressional select committees on intelligence and formulating Ford administration reforms of the intelligence community, but some material on other intelligence/national security matters appears. Included in the series are drafts of various briefing papers and books for the President, plus minutes and notes from ICG meetings and meetings with the President. Both series of intelligence materials are currently unprocessed and unavailable for research.

Raoul-Duval's files on various political issues primarily document his work as White House liaison to the Republican Party committee responsible for drafting the 1976 platform. Also included is miscellaneous advice Raoul-Duval received on debate strategy and tactics. The political files are largely fragments of a more complete political file that is part of the Raoul-Duval Papers.

Related Materials
(January 1996)
The Raoul-Duval Files described here are closely related to a separate collection of Raoul-Duval Papers. Among that collection are detailed notes from meetings between President Ford and Cabinet officials, members of Congress and representatives of business and industry. These notes largely date from Raoul-Duval's Domestic Council service. The Raoul-Duval Papers also include significant materials on 1976 campaign strategy planning and the three Ford-Carter debates.

Additional materials related to Raoul-Duval's Domestic Council responsibilities are located in various staff files, especially those of Glenn Schleede (energy and science); Stephen McConahey and Judith Hope (transportation); and Norm Ross, Paul Leach and George Humphreys (agriculture, natural resources and environment). Materials on Raoul-Duval's work with international aviation policy and energy questions (especially the Energy Resources Council) can be found in WHCF Oversize Attachments 3305 and 3391-3392.

Open collections relating to the intelligence investigations/reforms include White House Central Files Subject File category ND 6 (Intelligence); the Richard Cheney Files; the James Connor Files; the Ron Nessen Files and Papers; and the files of various staff members in the Congressional Relations Office, especially the Vernon Loen/Charles Leppert collection.

In addition, the Library holds unprocessed collections of Mason Cargill/Timothy Hardy Files and James Wilderotter Files, and unprocessed series on intelligence matters from the files of Philip Buchen and John Marsh. These collections/series are not currently available for research.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Energy and Environment File, 1974-75.
(Boxes 1-14, 5.7 linear feet)
Memoranda, briefing papers, draft speeches and statements for the President, reports, draft legislation, background information, and correspondence received by Raoul-Duval. The file documents the coordination of energy policy and legislation on energy and environmental issues during the early Ford administration; meetings on energy policy; and the administration's analysis of the interaction of energy, environmental, and transportation policies. Some materials, particularly on Project Independence and the 1974 coal strike, date from the last months of the Nixon administration.

Transportation File, 1974-75.
(Boxes 14-17, 1.2 linear feet)
Briefing papers, reports, correspondence, and other materials accumulated by Raoul-Duval on transportation issues and not transferred to his successors. Some materials, particularly issue briefing books, date from the Nixon administration. Among the Ford-era materials is information on Pan American financial problems and the Civil Aeronautics Board.

General Subject File, 1974-75.
(Boxes 17-25, 3.1 linear feet)
Briefing and budget materials on transportation, energy, community development, and other issues; miscellaneous printed materials, reports, memoranda and correspondence on topics other than transportation and energy, or on topics that combine energy and transportation matters. Some material, notably on community development issues and President Nixon's trip to Poland, date from the Nixon administration.

Political Subject File, 1975-76.
(Boxes 26-29, 1.2 linear feet)
Primarily Raoul-Duval's working reference files on the preparation of the 1976 Republican Party platform. Included are drafts by platform working groups and consultants, background research on issues, comments by White House staff, and memos and notes on negotiations among various party factions. Also included are miscellaneous suggestions on campaign debate issues and strategy from staff and others, and one folder each for the Peterson Commission and the 1976 State of the Union address.

Intelligence Community Subject File, 1975-76.
(Boxes 30-49, 7.9 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, briefing papers, reports, lists, agendas, meeting notes, speeches, testimony, congressional bills, executive orders, and clippings. The materials document the work of the administration's Intelligence Coordinating Group in responding to requests from the congressional select committees on intelligence, formulating President Ford's plan for reform of the intelligence community, and dealing with other intelligence matters. Major topics include the Abzug Subcommittee's investigation of telecommunications intercepts, White House interactions with the Church and Pike Committees, drafting of the President's intelligence community decision book and his executive order reforming the intelligence community, background on FBI jurisdiction, proposed legislation, and terrorism.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically thereunder.

THIS SERIES IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH.

The following folder is now available to researchers:

Box 42 - Intelligence Community Subject File

Outside Exports - Cropsey, Joseph

Wes Clark/Ray Waldmann Intelligence File, 1975-76.
(Boxes 49-52, 1.1 linear feet)
Working papers, reports, and memos accumulated by Clark and Waldmann in their work as assistants to Raoul-Duval. Clark served from late September to mid-November 1975 and Waldmann from then until April 1976. The major focus of their work was White House interactions with the congressional select committees. The documents concern congressional requests/subpoenas for documents, White House assertions of executive privilege, declassification and the handling of classified materials by Congress, congressional hearings, select committee reports/recommendations, and legislation. During December and January, Waldmann received some assignments relating to White House efforts to reorganize the intelligence community. Much of his materials on these matters concern drafts of background memoranda and analyses and reports on meetings with outside experts.

Arranged chronologically.

THIS SERIES IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH.

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Energy and Environment File

Academic Community - Reaction to President's Energy Program

Airline Fuel Prices (1)-(4)

Air-Water Pollution Report (Publication)

Alaskan Native Claims - Edwardsen Case (1)-(2)

Alaskan Natural Gas (1)-(4)

Box 2 - Energy and Environment File

Alaskan Pipeline - Double Bottom Hulls

Alcohol - Substitute Automobile Fuel

American Electric Power System Advertisements

Anti-Lobbying Laws - Re Economic and Energy Programs

Asphalt - Crude Oil Import Fee Rebate

Automobile Efficiency (Fuel)

Automobile Emission Standards (1)-(7)

Box 3 - Energy and Environment File

Automobile Emission Standards (8)-(12)

Automobile Emission Standards - Nader Report

Biweekly Energy Status Reports

Breeder Reactors

"Burden of Proof" - Environmental Protection Agency v. State of New York